AT&T-Bound Nokia Lumia Tab to Improve on Surface RT Design

We’re beginning to learn more about Nokia’s foray into the Windows tablet market with its own Lumia-branded tablet. It’s been long rumored that Nokia is working on a tablet, and early reports suggested that the slate will come with a detachable keyboard cover similar to the one offered by Microsoft with its Surface RT and Surface Pro line of tablets.

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The tablet is expected before the end of September according to a prior rumor we’ve heard.

However, unlike the Microsoft covers, the Nokia keyboard cover is rumored to feature an integrated battery. Not only will you be able to type faster and more accurately with this accessory, but the accessory, when used with the tablet in a notebook-like form factor, will also extend your battery life in between charges. This may be an important thing as the Surface RT’s battery life was still shy of Apple’s iPad battery life, and the Nokia Lumia slate will be coming with 4G LTE connectivity on AT&T’s U.S. network.

Other rumored features of the tablet that will make it stand out include a quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor from Qualcomm clocked at 2.15 GHz, a 1080p full HD display at 10.1-inch, 32 GB of built-in storage, USB 3.0, and color options.

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All these specs should be considered as rumors until we hear the official announcement from Nokia.

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Reportedly, the tablet may also come in Nokia’s hallmark matte cyan colors, one of the early color choices offered on the Lumia smartphones. This may allow Nokia to make its tablet and the design standout among the sea of black and silver slates on the market right now, an important thing when it comes to product placement and advertising as we had reported that though the Surface RT and Surface Pro offer a stellar design the devices did not stand out on TV.

Microsoft News is reporting that the slate will be manufactured by Compal. It’s unclear why Nokia is hedging its bet in the tablet market on the Windows RT operating system considering that Microsoft has had troubles with Surface RT sales. The platform was criticized by its use of processors made by designs from ARM Holdings, a feature that limits the tablet to only apps designed for the Metro UI rather than the full catalog of legacy Windows programs. Nokia chief Stephen Elop at one point said he was open to using Android on tablets despite closing the doors on Google for smartphones.

3 Responses

As long as such a device doesn’t cost more than $299. Windows RT isn’t a desirable OS for most users.
Now swap that Snapdragon for a BayTrail chip, bump that SSD to 128GB at US$500-700 and we’ll have a deal!

The biggest problem with the surface was the godawful advertising. Had they told us “each person in your family has their own login” it would have sold like crazy. Instead we got stupid dancers flipping the keyboard.